It is known that vehicles are intended to be stabilized for the different types of movement. In particular, it is known to use what are referred to as spring and damper combinations for the individual wheel suspensions. The spring suspension of the vehicle, i.e. the respective spring device, serves here to absorb the forces acting on the wheel suspension or to compensate for said forces with a spring force as a counterforce. In order to equalize the speeds at which the forces are introduced into the wheel suspension, the spring devices are customarily correlated with damper devices in order to be able to adapt the speed of the jounce and the speed of the rebound. Furthermore, it is known that the speed of the jounce and of the rebound is dependent not only on the actual speed at which the force strikes against the wheel suspension, but, furthermore, on the frequency and the acceleration at which the force is introduced. In the case of the chassis of a vehicle, this relates to the respective underlying surface.
A disadvantage of the previous solutions is that, at high frequencies in the excitation with which forces are introduced into the wheel suspension, a compromise would have to be obtained between the desired softness of the vehicle at said high-frequency excitations, on the one hand, and a high degree of rigidity of the vehicle in the event of lesser dynamic effects, i.e. in the event of a correspondingly smooth carriageway. For this purpose, the previous solutions use what is referred to as an inerter or an inerter device which, in addition to influencing the force and the speed of said force, permits influencing of the acceleration at which said forces are introduced into the wheel suspension.
In order to achieve this, the known inerter devices, which are used in particular in sports cars, have what is referred to as an inerter mass which can be set into an inerter mass movement. Setting into the inerter mass movement enables a counter acceleration or a counterforce to be built up in order to provide influencing of the spring device in the event of a high-frequency excitation. In other words, in the event of a high-frequency excitation, the inerter device, by means of the generated inerter mass movement, assists in deflecting the corresponding spring device, and therefore makes the spring device softer in a targeted manner in this specific use. It is therefore possible, in specific partial ranges in a chassis, i.e., for example, in the event of a high-frequency excitation on an uneven carriageway, to provide a different degree of rigidity or a softer chassis than is the case in other situations, for example in the case of a smooth carriageway covering.
It is disadvantageous in the case of the known solutions with an inerter device that the latter has to be fitted with relatively small inerter masses in order to be able to achieve sufficient mechanical permanent stability. In particular, this is because customarily inerter masses are connected by a coupling device to an associated mechanical inerter drive. As soon as the inerter mass exceeds a certain maximum size or a maximum weight, this can lead to the wear on such coupling devices, which are customarily designed as slipping couplings, increasing to a very pronounced extent. In a normal sports car operation, in particular in a normal road operation, this would lead, however, in the case of the desired high inerter masses to undesirably rapid wear, and therefore the inerter masses and therefore the effect of the inerter device on the chassis are significantly limited.
It would be desirable to at least partially eliminate the disadvantages described above. In particular, it would be desirable to use greater inerter masses for an inerter device of high reliability in a cost-effective and simple manner.